BTW I saw an article today saying that in general fans in India are not really that excited about the WC at the moment, as they're getting ripped for pay-tv, let alone travel to the Caribbean, and because the media coverage has reached such crazy levels of saturation that even die-hard fans are tuning out. The writer said it was anticipated that once the tournament got going and if India did well, the mood would change, but at the moment people are over it before it begins.

Does that gel with the experience of any posters from India at the moment?

Originally Posted by Irfan

We may not like you, your filthy rich coffers or your ratbag scum of supporters but by god do we respect you as a football team

BTW I saw an article today saying that in general fans in India are not really that excited about the WC at the moment, as they're getting ripped for pay-tv, let alone travel to the Caribbean, and because the media coverage has reached such crazy levels of saturation that even die-hard fans are tuning out. The writer said it was anticipated that once the tournament got going and if India did well, the mood would change, but at the moment people are over it before it begins.

Does that gel with the experience of any posters from India at the moment?

Don't worry. The moment India advances to the Super Eight, the entire nation will get high on cricket again.

Fat chance. We can win the WC, and though I'd be happy, I would hardly be ecstatic. I'll take a draw or win in England this summer over a WC win any day of the week. The sad part is that even players are starting to put the two forms on equal footing, and I shudder to think of the attitudes twenty years from now.

I feel increasingly alienated from the Indian team...I need to adopt a new nation. How about England? They could use more Fletcher-bashing fans on their side.

Fat chance. We can win the WC, and though I'd be happy, I would hardly be ecstatic. I'll take a draw or win in England this summer over a WC win any day of the week. The sad part is that even players are starting to put the two forms on equal footing, and I shudder to think of the attitudes twenty years from now.

I feel increasingly alienated from the Indian team...I need to adopt a new nation. How about England? They could use more Fletcher-bashing fans on their side.

It's funny how you're sad about one of the subcontinent teams winning the WC (the main point of the article)... .

Haha, that was part of what made it so tragic - the last paragraph clutch for some positive out of all that depressing history, hoping that a subcontinental team could upset the team to beat, like they did, once before, 24 years ago.

So are ODI games actually sellouts? I didn't know that - I had thought attendances were down for both forms of the game in the subcontinent, and that somehow, TV had just become the predominant way of watching the game for many.

What do people make of Miandad's comments? If it's true that it extends to the unis and colleges, then clearly it's an issue, but I'd have thought that for many Australian kids, their first experience with the game would be in similar rag-tag games. And when I was a kid, the public schools didn't cater much for competitive cricket, unless it was of a one-day, limited over variety (maybe things have changed by now). I imagine the private schools do better, though.

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